The world of news is complex – and false stories and images are often widely shared on social media. Blasting News’s editorial team spots the most popular hoaxes and misleading information every week to help you discern truth from falsehood. Here are some of the most shared false claims of this week, of which none are legit.

USA

No evidence of Ebola outbreak at Burning Man festival

False claim: After a heavy storm hit the site of this year’s edition of the Burning Man festival in Nevada, leaving tens of thousands of people stranded due to the mud, which temporarily blocked access in and out of the site, social media users in the United States have shared the claim that authorities had confirmed an Ebola outbreak at the festival.

Some of the posts feature a screenshot of an alleged tweet from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirming the cases.

Truth:

  • A search of the CDC's X account, including its deleted posts, shows that the agency did not make any publication informing about an Ebola outbreak at the Burning Man festival.
  • In statements to Reuters and the Associated Press, a spokesperson for the CDC said that the agency has not received any report of Ebola at the Burning Man festival.
  • In a post on the festival's official website, the event organizers stated that “online rumors of transmissible illnesses in Black Rock City are unfounded and untrue.”

Latin America

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has not declared war on Ukraine

False claim: Social media users in Latin America have shared the claim that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un had declared war on Ukraine and ordered his army to invade the country to “save Putin.”

Truth:

  • On August 30, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that U.S. intelligence had gathered information that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un had recently exchanged letters amid an alleged effort by Russia to obtain munitions from North Korea for use in the War in Ukraine.
  • Despite this information, which has not been confirmed or denied by either side, there is no official record, either in Russian and North Korean state agencies or in major international news agencies, of an alleged announcement by Kim Jong-un declaring war or sending troops to Ukraine.

Brazil

App does not track people who got a COVID-19 vaccine

False claim: Social media users in Brazil have shared a video in which an unidentified man claims to be able to track people who have taken the COVID-19 vaccine using a cell phone app.

“Vaccinated and chipped with the Bluetooth code mark. Detectable by geolocation using the 'BLE SCANNER' app. You are the android robot they want to build,” reads the caption of some of the posts.

Truth:

  • BLE SCANNER, used by the author of the video in the recording, is, according to the description on the website of Indian developer Bluepixel Technologies, an application for tracking BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) devices, a type of Bluetooth that consumes much less energy.
  • Bluetooth technology uses radio waves to connect nearby devices. However, no COVID vaccine approved by the world's main health authorities has any element in its formulation capable of connecting with electronics via Bluetooth.
  • According to the publications, tracking would be possible due to the supposed presence of graphene in the vaccines. However, according to information published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA), no COVID vaccine currently approved for use contains graphene.

Africa

Nigerian president Bola Tinubu has not announced changing the country’s currency to US dollar

False claim: Social media users in Nigeria have shared an excerpt from a television news report that allegedly informs that the country's president, Bola Tinubu, has announced that he plans to change the country's currency, the naira, to the U.S.

dollar. “We are planning to abolish the usage of naira and start using the dollar as our local currency,” Tinubu appears to say in the clip.

Truth:

  • A reverse image search shows that the news report shared on social media was taken from an Arise News – a London-based news channel popular in Nigeria – broadcast on August 24, 2023.
  • In the original clip, available on the Arise News YouTube page, anchor Ojy Okpe makes no mention of Tinubu's alleged plan to change the country's currency for the U.S. dollar.
  • Also through a reverse image search, it is possible to see that the image of Tinubu that appears in the viral video was actually recorded in January 2022, during a press conference in which he announced his intention to run for president.
  • A search of the Nigerian government's official website and its social media accounts finds no record of any plans by the Tinubu administration to change the country's currency for the U.S. dollar.
  • In a post on its account on platform X, Arise News said that the clip making the rounds on social media is a deep fake, which involves the use of artificial intelligence to manipulate videos and audio.
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